Internet-based shopping networks have been in use since the public introduction to the world-wide web. Conventional Internet-based shopping networks include on-line retailers such as, for example, amazon.com, nextag.com, smartbargains.com and shopping.com. For a given product, conventional Internet-based shopping networks typically provide information such as price, availability, photographs of the product, product features, product description and/or customer reviews.
Information about the origin of a given product is typically not available on conventional Internet-based shopping networks. Thus, if a consumer is interested in buying locally-produced or locally-manufactured products, the consumer does not usually have access to this information to make an informed purchasing decision using conventional Internet-based shopping networks. For example, a consumer may be interested in buying locally-produced or locally-manufactured products because the quality and safety standards in that consumer's country of origin are higher relative to countries outside of the consumer's country of origin. Thus, while a given product displayed and sold on conventional Internet-based shopping networks may appear more cost-effective relative to locally-produced or locally-manufactured products, the cost may be actually higher when taking into consideration higher quality and safety standards of that consumer's country of origin. Additionally, such uninformed purchasing decisions tend to drive local producers out of business.
Information about the distribution of revenue from the sale of a given product also is typically not available on conventional Internet-based shopping networks. For example, conventional Internet-based shopping networks do not offer consumers a guide to the percentage of overall or product-specific sales revenue, from consumer product purchases, that will be retained by the vendor or their employees for recirculation within a local economy. Similarly, conventional Internet-based shopping networks may offer consumers products where a large percentage of overall or product-specific sales revenue, from consumer product purchases, will be retained by the vendor or their employees for circulation outside of a local economy. Thus, the consumer who desires locally-produced or locally-manufactured products (or services) may not have the needed information to make an informed purchasing decision using conventional Internet-based shopping networks. Additionally, such uninformed purchasing decisions tend to drive local producers out of business.